What responsibility does the Wake County school system have in providing transportation to preassigned rising sixth- and ninth-graders who don't have bus service this fall?

As noted in today's article, the school board voted to direct staff to, when possible, modify existing bus routes to accommodate students or to offer them a spot at a school on their proximity list that would give them transportation.

But that motion stops short of guaranteeing bus service to their feeder school. And that motion only extends to students who are receiving bus service this year and would lose it this fall, not transfer students who now don't get bus service.

More to come later but the Wake County school board voted tonight to direct staff to try to provide transportation to the 470 preassigned students facing losing bus service.

The board passed 6-3 this motion: "WCPSS, shall provide transportation, when it can be provided with adjustments to existing routes, to all rising sixth- and ninth-graders currently receiving district transportation, who are pre-assigned without transportation for the 2012-13 school year OR offer that student a seat in one of the schools on his/her proximity choice list with transportation."

The board resisted language that would have required providing transportation, including potentially adding extra buses. The board also resisted amending the motion that would have  added 539 rising sixth- and ninth-graders who are at their current school as transfer students.

Susan Evans, Christine Kushner and Jim Martin were the dissenting votes.

The Wake County school board will deal with a variety of items at today's meeting, including whether to provide transportation to all rising sixth- and ninth-graders going to their feeder schools this fall.

During the work session, staff will give an update on how many of the preassigned students still don't have transportation and what can be done to accommodate them. The vote on the issue, requested by board member Jim Martin, will come at the regular meeting.

In response to board member Debra Goldman's complaints that Martin was being given more consideration than her for today's meeting, the board will also deal with her concerns about board and district transparency.

Should the Wake County school system guarantee bus service to all students who choose to stay on their current feeder pattern?

It's an issue in the new student assignment that the school board has been wrestling with for the past several months. The discussion got personal at times last week with board member Jim Martin, the most outspoken proponent of providing the bus service, taking shots from board members Debra Goldman and Deborah Prickett.

For now, staff is continuing to review what bus service can be provided.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

For the second year in a row, the Wake County school system has been exempted from the legislative requirement that students get five more days and 25 additional hours of classes to the school year.

Wake was among the 91 school districts who received waivers last Monday for the 2012-13 school year from State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson. The State Board of Education, which initially balked at allowing waivers for the 2012-13 school year, decided earlier this month to give Atkinson the permission to grant them.

Wake, like most school districts, cited the need to train teachers on the common core on why they shouldn't have to add the extra days. In addition to providing more training time, Wake Superintendent Tony Tata says the waiver will save $1.4 million in transportation costs.

Interestingly, the state listed Wake as asking for a waiver from all five days. Wake initially only asked for a partial waiver.

Will the Wake County school board make any last-minute changes to the proposed bell schedules for the 2012-13 school year?

The school board is scheduled to adopt the bell schedules on Tuesday amid lobbying by parents at some schools to modify the proposal. Staff is recommending that they continue to make the move to a modified two-tier schedule.

During his Friday's news conference, Superintendent Tony Tata hinted that more changes could come to the proposal.

You may not actually live in the walk zone after all for the Wake County school you're now in or hope to attend.

As noted in today's article, Wake is using different mapping data for student assignment that what's currently used by transportation, Chief Transformation Officer Judy Peppler says they're using the most up-to-date data to determine how far students live from a school in the student assignment plan.

The new data means that some students who thought they'd get the walk-zone priority in the assignment plan are not now. That's a big deal because families who live within the 1.5-mile walk zone had a lot more success getting into a school than other applicants.

If only one of the two new Wake County elementary schools does open for the 2012-13 school year, it could be Richland Creek Elementary in Wake Forest.

Superintendent Tony Tata told school board members this week that there appears to be a greater need for Richland Creek than for Abbotts Creek Elementary for the upcoming school year based on the capacity needs of their respective areas.

Tata said they'd wait until after the end of the second round of school selection to recommend whether to delay the opening of either or both schools. Both new schools, slated to open in modular campuses until their permanent buildings are constructed, had few applicants in Round 1.

Some changes are being proposed for Wake County school bell schedules for this fall but it doesn't like shifting high schools to a later time is one of them.

As noted in today's article, staff revised the proposal Tuesday to reduce the number of schools that would see shifts for this fall. But the plan leaves in place proposed changes that would move more high schools 40 minutes earlier to a 7:25 a.m. start time.

Staff said that talk about starting high schools later and elementary schools earlier needs more review before it can be implemented. Click here for the staff presentation.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition's latest attempt to derail the new Wake County student assignment plan is to criticize it by attacking the proposed bell schedule changes unveiled by Superintendent Tony Tata.

In a press release today, GSIW writes that the "the latest proposal tied to the new assignment plan — a new busing system that significantly affects bell schedules—boasts a theoretical cost savings based on the old assignment plan, without demonstrating how it will offset the undocumented costs of the new." Tata has denied that the bell schedule changes are being caused by the assignment plan, something that GSIW evidently disbelieves.

"Superintendent Tata's actions continue to erode the public's trust," says GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon in the release. "The plan he rushed through is starting to show signs of real inadequacy, but rather than responding to the community's concerns in a comprehensive way, he is forging ahead. He presented the new transportation plan to the public as if it were a 'done deal' — despite the fact that the Board has yet to vote on it."

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST